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Monday, April 14, 2014

Now, the Devils will get into the process of figuring out which players that are potential free agents that they went to bring back and which ones they’ll let go.

As far as potential unrestricted free agents, at the top of the list of the ones they’ll want to keep will be right wing Jaromir Jagr, who, despite turning 42 on Feb 15, played in all 82 games and led the team with 67 points on 24 goals and 43 assists.

Jagr has said multiple times he would like to be re-sign with the Devils. His agent, Petr Svoboda, and general manager Lou Lamoriello have already touched base and agreed to begin contract talks after the season.

That doesn’t guarantee Jagr will be back, though.

“We have to wait and see whatever my agent and Lou talk about,” Jagr said. “I like it here a lot, no question about it. At my age, it’s pretty tough to change teams year after year. It took me at least 15, 20 games just to get used to the players. It’s not easy to play in this league plus you have to get used to a new system, new players. It’s very tough for me and I don’t have that many games left. So, why waste 20 extra games? But we will see.”

The future Hall of Famer said it is not a situation that he will push the Devils to get a deal done quickly and will go at whatever pace is necessary.

Jagr believes in the puck possession system the Devils play and believes they have the potential to be better next season.

“We didn’t win as many games as I would like to, but we went into every game and believed that we could win every game,” Jagr said. “That’s very important to me, just go into the game and know that if you play your best you have a chance to win it and we had it. It’s up to the players how much we take advantage. There’s little things we have to fix: shootouts, scoring and the start (to the season). It’s not easy to get points early in the season, like we found out this year, so have to learn.

“But I feel like a lot of guys, young guys, especially on defense got an opportunity to play. So, they’re going to get better and that’s the key. When you have good defensemen who can skate with the puck, make plays, it makes it a lot easier for the forwards.”

Jagr’s biggest regret, of course, is that the Devils did not qualify for the playoffs. It will be only the third time in his 20 NHL seasons that he won’t compete in the playoffs and the first since 2003-04 with the Rangers.

“It was a very enjoyable year for me. Too bad we didn’t make the playoffs,” he said. “At my age, it’s tough to swallow because I’m not going to have that many years left and everybody knows how exciting it is to play in the playoffs where every goal, every mistake and every good play mean a lot. Plus, the fans getting really into it.

“So, it’s a bad part of the season that we didn’t make the playoffs, but besides that it was a very enjoyable year for me.”

***Jagr had two assists in today’s 3-2 win over Boston. That pushed him into a tie with Steve Yzerman for sixth place in NHL history with 1,755 points and moved him one ahead of Gordie Howe into eighth place all-time with 1,050 assists.

“It still bothered Jagr, though, that he had no goals and just one assist in his previous six games.

“I had pretty tough luck the last six or seven games. I could have had 20 points,” he said. “Our line we had tough luck to score. We had so many scoring chances I stopped counting. I was getting upset lately about not scoring.

“But, passing Gordie Howe in assists, it’s a big honor. He’s Mr. Hockey and he played the same position like me, on the right wing. So, it’s pretty good. And Stevie Yzerman is an icon of Detroit. I was watching him. He was one of my idols. I liked the way he played. He was a true gentleman on the ice and off the ice and he was one of the nicest players and one of the best players to ever play hockey.”

“You have a front row seat to history,” DeBoer said. “You look at 1,755 points and it’s just an incredible number. And he’s still going strong. What he did this year at the age he was, 82 games, the Olympics, it was incredible.”

DeBoer had wondered heading into the season whether Jagr would be able to hold up physically over an Olympic season with a compacted schedule. He has no doubt now, though, that Jagr can repeat next season what he did this season.

“You know what?” DeBoer said. “I won’t doubt him again having been around him every day.”

***Patrik Elias, who celebrated his 38th birthday today by getting an assist, was limited to 65 games due to injury and illness, but finished second on the Devils with 53 points (18 goals, 35 assists).

Travis Zajac, who had a goal and an assist today, finished third on the team with 48 points (18 goals, 30 assists). The 48 points were the third most in his career and most since he had a career high 67 (25 goals, 42 assists) in 2009-10.

Adam Henrique led the team in goals with a career-high 25 and finished with 43 points in 77 games. He missed the last five with a groin injury.

Marek Zidlicky led Devils defensemen with 42 points and 12 goals, which equaled the second highest goal total in his career behind only the 14 he scored in his first NHL season of 2003-04 with Nashville. The 42 points are the most he’s had since he put up 43 in 2009-10 with Minnesota and tied him for 20th in the NHL among defensemen.

Like Jagr, Zidlicky, 37, is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

“Zid had a good year for us,” DeBoer said. “Another that played the entire year, went to the Olympics. I really felt he might hit the wall too at some point. These guys are great pros, though. They really keep themselves in great shape. He played at a high level all year for us and we wouldn’t have stayed in the hunt as long as we did without him.”

*** Here is the complete list of Devils’ players eligible to become free agents on July:

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.